Wendy's mother was also awakened by the knock on the door, and saw Wendy standing in front of her window with the key in her hand.

The atmosphere was a little awkward for a while.

But she didn't care about educating her daughter at this time, and when she heard a knock on the door downstairs, she immediately got dressed, ran down, opened the door, and really saw the figure she had been thinking about for a long time outside the door.

Twenty-one days had passed since Matthew's disappearance, and she couldn't help but have some bad thoughts in her heart, and now when she saw her husband return safely, tears instantly welled up from her eyes.

She flew into Matthew's arms.

But just then, a voice rang out in her ears.

"Tell us about it, Matthew."

Wendy's mother looked up and saw an old man with a somewhat hunched back and three burly-looking men standing behind Matthew, one of whom the barkeeper would probably recognize if he was the driver who brought him drinks yesterday afternoon.

The old man took off his hat and saluted her, "Don't worry, ma'am, we're all friends with Matthew. ”

Wendy's mother looked at her husband.

The latter nodded, "Jane, this is Cook, Cook, this is Jane, my wife." ”

Jane breathed a sigh of relief and stretched out her hand with a smile, "Forgive me for being a little nervous during this time, Cook hasn't been back from home for a long time, Wendy is running around with an Oriental who came out of nowhere, and then there is a message outside saying that a gang of robbers are planning to come to the town to loot, etc...... I remember that the leader of the bandits seemed to be called Cook. ”

"There are always a lot of coincidences in this world, ma'am." The old man kissed the back of her hand, "I hope I didn't disturb you, seeing you is like seeing my daughter, you are all so kind and pure, but it's a pity that she doesn't have your blessings." ”

"You're so polite, why do you say that?"

"Oh, something happened to her, something terrible, but it's all in the past, so it's better not to mention it." The old man said to the three behind him, "You stay here. ”

The three nodded.

Then the hunchbacked old man and Matthew walked into the house together, he saw Wendy walking down the stairs, and smiled, "Look at this lovely little girl, she is your daughter, Matthew has mentioned to me many times, your name is Wendy, right?" The old man felt in his pocket as he spoke, and finally took out a gold bar from it, "I'm sorry I'm in a hurry this way, and I didn't have time to buy candy, so let's use this thing instead." ”

"It's embarrassing, the gift is too expensive." Jane hurriedly excused herself.

"It's nothing, it's just a little caution on my part, a good person like you deserves such a gift, so it's better to treat it as a gift of fate."

When Wendy took the gold bar from the hunchbacked old man's hand, Matthew said, "Jane, go get something to eat, neither Cook nor I have had dinner yet." ”

"Okay, I remember some cookies baked in the morning."

"Very well, let's make two more cups of tea." After Matthew finished speaking, he looked at Wendy again, "You go too, help your mother." ”

Wendy looked at her father, then at Cook with some suspicion, and finally followed behind her mother.

When the two left, the hunchbacked old man said, "That child's eyes are quite like yours, when I first saw you, you were also like this, vigilant and a little stubborn......"

"Don't go around in circles, Cook, didn't we say that we were just here to find out what is real in the town, why did you come to my house." Matthew interrupted him directly.

"Oh, you and I don't need to worry about the real thing, Morris has already inquired about everything he needs to inquire about yesterday." The hunchbacked old man said leisurely, "I also asked him to inquire about your residence at that time." ”

"What exactly do you want?"

"Nothing, just a little curious about your life over the years."

Cook put his feet on the table in front of him, "I've always considered you my son, and I want to know how you're doing since we separated." ”

"You can ask me directly." Matthew said with a stiff face.

"yes, but I prefer to see it with my own eyes in comparison." "I'm sorry to disturb your life, really, I hope we can come little by little, starting with daily greetings, I tell you what I've done over the years, you tell me how your days are......"

"I don't need you to tell me, I know what you've done over the years, and there's never a shortage of news about you in the newspapers."

"Well...... I have to admit that I was very popular with the journalists, and as long as I was there, I would never lose my job. The hunchbacked old man shrugged.

"It's not funny what you've done, you and your men are going to burn and loot, rich and poor, old and children, you don't let it go, you set fire to churches, you slaughter baby babies ......" Matthew said coldly.

"Fear is a power that you have to learn and get used to using it. I am a robber, and I am not a priest, do I have to do good deeds and listen to the sufferings of the people? ”

The hunchbacked old man paused, "Hell, I thought you'd become a little more mature over the years after going through that incident, but it turns out that you're no different from the past, okay, that's the end of the gossip, it's better for us to get to the point early, I know you've heard a lot about me over the years, but the next thing I'm going to tell you is something that wasn't in those news reports, no, I should say that even the Cook gang doesn't know a lot." ”

"Did you do anything else that was so angry?"

"It has nothing to do with that," the hunchbacked old man looked into Matthew's eyes, "I'm going to die, Matthew." ”

"After all the bad things you've done, do you think you're going to get a good death?"

"No, that's not what it meant." Cook waved his hand, "When I say I'm going to die, I mean my physical condition, there's not much time left for me, I can feel it, that's the real reason why I'm coming back to you." ”

Matthew fell silent when he heard this, "How do you know you're dying?" ”

"It's my body, and of course I know when that day will come." "I've seen the face of death, he has blue eyes, just like Mary, I don't fear death, but I do have a few things to do before I die, the most important of which is to find a new owner for the Cook Gang." ”

"You want me to take over the Cook Gang and become the next you?"

"Why not, believe me, you will love this feeling of freedom, you are just trapped by mundane trivialities, those false happiness, I came to your house tonight to untie you, to untie your miserable reincarnation, my child."